Monday, 2 November 2015

Interesting behaviour of Feathered Thorns

This November there seemed to be a mass hatching of hundreds of Feathered Thorn moths about but this wasn't the most interesting thing I discovered.
Upon releasing a Feathered Thorn I had caught the night before, I noticed that the moth flew straight up into the air and then flew into a large mature beech tree and then suddenly fell in a tumbling motion that mimicked a falling autumn leaf all the way to the ground amongst the already fallen leaves. I only wish I had filmed it now!
I don't know if anyone else has noticed this before but it must be some kind of predator avoidance behaviour! It's amazing what you learn about nature when you look closely.